In 1095, Pope Urban II granted absolution to anyone who would fight to reclaim the Holy Land. With God at their backs, the first crusaders embarked on an unprecedented religious war that was to last for almost two centuries. While addressing the contribution of flamboyant characters like Saladin and Richard the Lionheart, Malcolm Billings also looks at the experiences of the men on the ground—the peasants, knights, and fighting monks who took the cross for Christendom and the Holy Warriors of Islam.